BMW Sauber has a buyer for its Hinwil-based team, should the FIA grant it the so-called 13th spot on the 2010 grid.
That is the claim of the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick,although team founder and minority shareholder Peter Sauber was givingnothing away at Monza when he said: "The negotiations are at a crucialstage. I can't say anything."
Rumours earlier this weekend suggested that, in addition to plenty ofspeculated interest from the international private sector, the Swissgovernment might also be involved in trying to rescue the locally basedteam in the wake of BMW's announced withdrawal.
Sauber is in competition with Lotus and Epsilon Euskadi for the last place on next year's grid, but Blick reports that more places might open up soon.
The newspaper said FIA officials will this week visit the factories ofthe Manor, USF1 and Campos teams, in order to gauge their progress inpreparing genuinely for next year’s world championship. Many have been sceptical regarding their participation including BMW Sauber test and reserve driver Christian Klien.
"You can't visit a factory because there's nothing there,” he told the Austrian news agency APA."You can't sign anything at the moment because the uncertainty aboutwhether they're going to be there next year is still too large.”
Nick Heidfeld also said he does not see the new teams as potentialoptions. "I try to follow what they're doing but obviously there arerumours that they are not doing a lot and maybe don't have enough moneyor whatever…" |